Not Afraid Anymore
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: Oliver asks Laurel about what he should with his feelings for Felicity, but things get complicated. In the midst of trying to have a life and be the Arrow, Oliver struggles with where his romantic intentions should lie. Can he just be Oliver Queen with Felicity? Or has he already found someone he can partner with?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Not Afraid Anymore  
Words: 2378  
Pairings: Laurel/Oliver and Felicity/Oliver  
Genre: Angst/Romance  
Status: In-Progress [part 1/?]  
Prompt: laureloliver and writeworld

Summary: _Oliver asks Laurel about what he should with his feelings for Felicity, but things get complicated._

* * *

"Laurel, I need to ask you something," He asked as she punched the punching bag and he came behind her. He knew from experience to be out of her way when she swung at the bag. The black eye from last time healed nicely.

Laurel nodded to him as she kicked the bag. "What's up?" She asked him.

"Well, as you know Sara and I broke up and she went back to the league of assassins with her crazy powerful girlfriend Nyssa," He started. He rambled usually only in one case, which was a sign, but he wanted to get this out, so she was going to let him. She nodded to him, keeping up the pace of her workout, without having to give up being his sage master. "So now that city has been rebuilt a little bit and there's a little bit less of an imminent threat, there's a girl I want to ask out, and think I should, but I need your advice on this."

Laurel finally stopped, made sure the bag wasn't moving and sat him down on a bench behind both of them. "Look, you don't have to be cryptic with me, Ollie. I know who you want to date. She asked me about you. And honestly, I think you should see what happens with Felicity." She told him with a smile as she patted his knee.

"Felicity told you she had feelings for me?" He asked as his eyebrows knit together.

She nodded to him and shook her head. He really didn't realize the impact he had on Felicity's life, and sometimes to Felicity's detriment. "Look, Felicity has like zero friends outside the cave. That means it's Roy, Diggle, You, and Me she comes to. So yeah, being the only one who really understands lady feelings about Oliver Queen, she came to me."

"So did she tell you everything?" He asked, nervous about what she knew and what she told Felicity. Really, he didn't worry she said anything he didn't deserve and she definitely did steer Felicity in the wrong direction, because Felicity was happy to talk to her more an more, but it always made him nervous when his ex and his current paramour decided to talk.

She put a hand on his cheek and gently turned him to her, she blushed, and he pulled away a little, but not enough to be out of reach of her hand, a comfort touch. "She told me about the fact you said you loved her." She whispered to him as they leaned foreheads together and she closed her eyes.

"Laurel, I promise, it's not what you think..." He said.

She shushed him. And opened her eyes and practically looked into his soul, "I know why you did it." She told him and she tried to look away, but he kept her eyes on him. "You did it to save me. You wanted no more killing. And it was gonna be you or him walking out of there alone if you came for me on your own. By having him take her, you saved us. You found the no kill solution, you did right by me, and by tommy, and I couldn't be more proud of you," She said as she kept his eyes and held his hands in her own. She wiped away a few of her tears and he wiped a few of his away "But you meant it when you said you loved her. At the very least, you love the idea of her. And you need to know how far those feelings go,"

"Are you telling me I should date Felicity?" He asked as she came to the end of her very beautiful speech about being proud of who he was. In his entire tenure as the arrow, he didn't think he'd ever heard that. And he wouldn't say it, but it meant a hell of a lot more coming from idealist till the very end Laurel, his laulie pop.

She nodded to him, his forehead rubbing up on hers. She cracked a smile even. "Oliver in the past six months all we've down is rebuild the city. The city can take a night off while you have dinner and watch a movie," She told him.

"Why do you do this?" He asked as they now sat side by side instead of gazing into each other's eyes.

She stiffened up upon hearing his question and left the bench. "Do what?" She asked as she started punching the bag.

He went around in front of the bag. And stopped it from moving, so he could talk to her without her being distracted which is clearly what she wanted. "Why do you support my new relationships? Even when they clearly hurt you."

She sighed and looked to the ground before looking to him, "Because, I care about you. And I want you to be happy. And believe me, I wish I didn't, but I care about you. And being in a relationship makes you happy. And that's what you want with the people you love, right? You want them to be happy, even if they can't be with you." She said as silent tears fell.

She was stronger than god intended her to be. He didn't even really believe in God, but damn the universe noticed her noticing the universe and it rewarded her for doing so. "I'm gonna ask one more question. And then I promise, you can beat me up till I'm black and blue," She nodded as she wiped away the tears. He sighed. "Why do you do it when it's people so close to you? Your sister? Felicity? These are people who know you. And I want to date them. And I know it's hard on you."

"Because," She said as she combed her fingers through his hair on the side of his head. "Because you're my person, even if I'm not yours. And they make you the most happy," She said with a sad little smile.

He brought her into his arms and looked down at her and he kissed her lips. She opened her mouth and he tasted the blue gatorade on her breath. She dug her fingernails into his neck and he hissed as he kissed her neck. She brought him back up to her mouth and kissed him with the vigor that the oceans drowns people with. When they both needed oxygen, he pulled away and whispered in her ear. "You are the comparison stick. And no one makes me happier than you did and do."

She whispered back to him, "Well, then you need to get out of here before I change my mind about being so supportive of you and Felicity,"

He nodded and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked.

"If you're lucky," She winked back at him.

He chuckled to himself as he walked out of the gym and to his car. He put on the bluetooth and called Felicity as he drove out of the parking lot.

"Thank you for calling, you've reached Felicity Smoak of Queen Consolidate, Mr. Palmer's in a meeting right now, can I take a message?" She asked in her chipper voice.

He shook his head. "Do you know when Mr. Palmer will be out of his meeting?"

"No, I don't, and Oliver you shouldn't be calling me at work," She scolded him.

He looked at the time, it was 9.40. Even if they weren't planning on dealing with crime tonight, that was still a little worrisome. "You shouldn't even be at work right now," He told her. "You should be with me."

"Well, this meeting was kind of last minute and he asked me to stay. I didn't think it was take more than four hours, or I would have politely declined to stay. What do you need anyway?" She asked him.

He sighed. "It's not something I want to do over the phone."

"Oliver, what are you going to do?" She asked as she put her hand up to her headset and cradled it. There were so many possibilities, ones that she didn't like to think about.

He chuckled, "Just when he gets done, I'll be in the foyer. We'll do it when I can see you face to face."

"Oliver, you're scaring me," Felicity said, "Not like I'm going to get murdered via brutal stabbing scared, but like this is the kind of wording that people use before they propose to their girlfriends. And we're not that. We're not even dating. We're barely colleagues anymore. That I can talk of and not sound like a weird person who hasn't let go of her previous boss."

"Look, I promise, I'm not proposing, just relax, but we have to talk. And we need to do it in person." He told her, looking at the shiny gold elevator in the middle of the building, such a palace of decadence.

Felicity looked over at the boardroom, "Well, you appear to be in luck, because Ray's shaking hands. And he doesn't like to do that more than he has to. So it's near the end of the meeting. I'll talk to you in a few." She told him and then hung up.

Ray opened up the double door and let everyone out as she gathered her things into her bag and smoothed the wrinkles down on the skirt of her dress. "Felicity," He said as the guests were out and she was picking up her last crucial piece of information.

Her head shot up, "Yes?"

"I know it was ludicrous to ask you to stay here, but do you know where those new construction contracts are?" He asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

She swirled her chair around to her desk, typed on her computer quickly, and looked back to him. "They're in your inbox. And I have four printing now," She said as the printer whirred to life. "So it went well?" She asked him.

"It went so well. They're so into building a new applied sciences division. Bigger and better than before. It's gonna increase profits, because we'll be able to get product on the market. We'll give people jobs. It's gonna be a great thing for the new Starling City." He practically squealed this. His excitement made her smile.

The printer whirred down as the last page printed and she turned to it and gave him the four copies he needed. "Have a good night, Ray."

"Hey, Felicity," He said once again.

And almost out the door, she turned and smiled to him. "Yeah?" She asked.

"Would you like to get a gelato with me?" He asked as he blushed.

She blushed too. She looked at the floor and then back to him. "I wish I could, but I actually have a friend downstairs. And apparently we have something important talk about which we need to talk about in person."

"Right," He said. "Well, have a good night and I hope you guys figure out what's going on." He told her.

She smiled to him as she put her bag in front of her and stepped into the elevator turning around to look at him, "Have a good night, Ray," She said with a great big smile.

"Have a good night, Felicity." He said as the doors closed and she descended. She fiddled with the chain of her necklace and bit her lip.

The elevator doors whooshed openly slowly as she got to the foyer and Oliver looked up at her. "So how was work?"

"Well, Ray asked me to get Gelato with him, so I mean it went fairly well," She said as she rubbed her finger on the chain. "So what's going on? What was some important I had to turn my boss down for Gelato. Which you know I love. And we couldn't talk about it on the phone" She told him.

He sighed. Ray was much easier. He didn't seem to have as much baggage and he would be good. But dammit, this was his try and he was going to make sure that he got a fair shot at all of it. "I was taught when you like a girl and you want to ask her out on a date, that you should ask in person. You should make sure they know the sincerity on your face. Makes all the difference in the world."

Felicity looked around and made sure she wasn't being punked and there was someone else in the area. There was no one. "You're asking me out?" She asked him, shocked.

He nodded. "Yes, you. What I told you that night wasn't a lie. I want a chance to be with my girl."

"Oliver, despite the fact that I want to go out with you, because yes, I have had a crush on you. I don't know about it. I mean Laurel was nice enough when it was her sister, but I don't want to start a war. She's gonna be part of your life. And if we break up, I don't want her to have choose between us," She told him.

He understood that. "She's fine. She wants me to try it with you. She wants me to be happy. And I'm happy with you, so please will you go out with me?" He asked.

"Yes, I will go out with you. But not tonight. Tonight, I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna squeal. And I'm gonna call Laurel and tell her thank you. Because her blessing means the world to me," She told him.

He smiled. She was the the cutest little thing. He didn't tell her about the kiss and things because she didn't need to know the complicated relationship that he and Laurel had. "Well, then how about tomorrow?" He asked her.

"Tomorrow, that sounds great. You're gonna pick me up?" She asked.

He chuckled, "Yeah, of course, I just need you address."

She nodded to him, "Good night, Mr. Queen. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Miss Smoak." He told her. She left and he watched walk into the night without a care in the world to find her car. Her optimism still surprised him.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Not Afraid Anymore  
Words: 2542  
Pairing: Oliver/Felicity and Laurel/Oliver  
Genre: Angst/Romance  
Status: In progress. [part 2/?]

Summary: _Felicity and Oliver go on their date, only to have looming Arrow business interrupt it. _

* * *

"So, Oliver told me you told him it was okay to date Felicity," Diggle said as he crossed in front of Laurel who was lazily looking at a computer.

She nodded to him as she realized that he was talking to her and she wasn't doing anything. "I did. I think he deserves to be happy and I told him so."

"You know," Diggle sat on the counter to make his point. He looked down at her and smiled. "You don't have to protect him. You have the right to be angry with him."

She nodded again. "Diggle, with all due respect," She said as she turned off the console and looked to him. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Oliver and I, it's complicated, and not for nothing, but there's a reason we don't let anyone else in on it. If he wants to date other people, Oliver feels like he needs my blessing and I'll give it to him. Because I want him to be happy. But It's me and him. It always has been and it always will be." She said to him and started to leave.

As she started to push the door, he chuckled. Stupid kids. "Always and Forever, right?" He asked her.

She chuckled lightly back. "Yeah, something like that."

At Oliver's new apartment which was Laurel's old apartment, Oliver got dressed for his date, excited to see what would come of this.

A chance to be normal. A chance to take a girl to dinner and not have to be the Arrow. And not have his date be involved with crimefighting. Like it had been with Mckenna. And Laurel. And Helena. And Sara. Tonight, he could just be Oliver Queen.

He adjusted his suit jacket and smiled to the mirror. He looked like a man smitten. He picked his keys up from the bowl and locked the door behind him as he rode the elevator down to the foyer and went to his car.

He drove to Felicity's townhouse on the other side of town and rang the bell. He hadn't been this nervous in awhile, probably a good sign that he was dating the right woman right now.

When she opened the door, his jaw dropped. It wasn't that she hadn't worn anything like that around him before, but now, he got to appreciate in a way that he really couldn't when he was the Arrow and Oliver Queen, CEO. "You look stunning," He said as she twirled for him in her keyhole purple dress.

She locked her door and smiled up to him, "So where are we going, Mr. Queen?" She asked him.

"Well," He chuckled a little, "I thought we could do dinner and movie? Or is that totally lame? I don't really know anything about you just that I like you Felicity Megan Smoak." He smiled.

She grinned. "Dinner and a movie sounds great," She said as he held out his hand, she took it and they were whisked into his car that he drove to the restaurant.

He drove for a while to they ended up at Celia's, the hottest restaurant in town. He drove up to the valet and handed him the keys. "Ah, yes, Mr. Queen, Rubin has a table set up for you, enjoy your night," the valet guy said.

"You got us a table, here?" She asked him. "How can you afford this? I mean I know you still have some of your money, Ray wasn't that mean to you, but you took a substantial pay cut. Are you sure we can eat here?" She asked him as she looked at the beauty that was Celia's.

He nodded. "Yeah, despite my lack of money, I still have plenty to play with. Also as long as they seeing you spending money, rich people don't actually care. In general, they're a weird group of people, the upper class." He told her in a whisper as if it was a secret.

She laughed, out loud, uninhibited and he smiled. God, he loved that in girls, ones that could just be themselves. And she was herself no matter what. "Oh, trust me, Oliver, you don't even know the half of it. Rich people, they're the oddest ducks. I know a couple," She said as she pushed him with her shoulder.

He took her into the restaurant and Rubin came and sat them at a nice private table and asked what kind of wine they would like. "Oh, just a water," Felicity blushed.

Oliver smiled and just nodded to Rubin. "Actually the same for me," He said.

Rubin raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite sure?" He asked.

"Yeah," Felicity said. "I'm good. You?" She asked Oliver.

He nodded. "I'm fine. Just two water, Rubin." Rubin walked away and rolled his eyes at the request. "So, why just water for you?" He asked.

"I'm not really an expensive wine drinker." She shrugged. "Never got the hang of it at the casinos in Vegas and I was drinking with some experienced drinkers. But we always inevitably changed over to something a little more light, like screwdrivers. You?" She asked.

He shrugged. "I shouldn't say. It's not polite to bring up other women when you're on a date with a beautiful one."

"So you quit drinking because of Laurel?" She asked him.

He nodded. "I just...I didn't want to trigger her. I spend a lot of meals with her. And you know, eventually, you just fall out of habit. But yeah, I want to be there for her." He said as Rubin came back with two water glasses. He took his and ran his finger over the rim.

She smiled a little. "I'm glad you can be such good friends with her."

"What about you? Who does Felicity Smoak have for friends?" He asked.

She thought about the time he had Diggle watch her house. "I don't have friends, except the team. I used to, though. But we all kind of lost contact when I got my promotion."

"I'm sorry for that," He apologized. "I should have been more sensitive about what you deserved. Because you didn't deserve to lose all of your friends because of me."

She shook her head. "I didn't lose all of my friends. I have you and Sara and Diggle and Roy and Laurel."

"Four extra friends and me, that's not exactly a great circle I've left you with." He chuckled a little. "But let's get to something a little lighter. What's your favorite movie?"

"You think that will be lighter?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow into her hair. "Because picking favorites is like picking a limb I would least like to lose, I mean we all think we can do it, but when it comes down to everything, we're all sort of attached to all four that we have."

"Okay, how'd you choose MIT?" He asked, diverting the question.

She smiled. "Well, they're pretty much the school you want to go if you want to do something with engineering and science. It's basically Ivy League, except not pretentious. Well, it is pretentious, but for better reasons than Ivy League schools are. But yeah, I went to MIT for computer science. And it was fun, man, I had a lot of fun at college. Like a lot of fun. My roommates were some of the most insane people you'd ever meet." She told him.

"If you don't mind me asking, why the Queen Consolidated IT department? I mean clearly your smart enough to be running your own company. And with a background in computer engineering, shouldn't you be making like the next twitter or something?" He asked.

She shrugged. "A year at Queen Consolidated is supposed to get you any job you want. And as nice of you it is to think that I could have my own company, that's not really what I wanted. I'm also not great at the people aspect of running a company." She said as she smiled. "Do you know when they're going to ask us about what we want?" She whispered as everyone seemingly was fine with this arrangement.

"They don't ask. Jeff cooks what he wants and we eat it. But it's always amazing." He told her. "And where did you want to work after your year with Queen Consolidated?" He asked.

"Google," She said, "I mean the largest tech company doing all sorts of cool things, like driverless cars."

"You'd leave QC for Google if they asked for you?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "It's not that easy now. I mean I have people to take care of at Queen Consolidated now. It would feel weird to leave that to someone else, you know? I don't know though. Maybe. Probably not, actually, what can I say? I like Starling."

Back at Laurel's apartment, cuddled on the couch, reading a book, her phone went off. She flipped it over to see who it was and it was Sara. "Hello?" She asked into the phone.

"Oh, thank god, I got you. Oliver has his phone turned off." Sara panted into the phone.

Laurel shrugged. "He's on a date. What's so important that you needed someone to pick up?" She asked.

"Someone is looking blow Starling city up. Tonight." She said in a panic.

Laurel put her book down and sat up. "Start from the beginning because this is the kind of crap, we just dealt with." She said as she got a pen and paper and wrote down all of the important information so that she didn't have to explain multiple times. The pen and paper could just go around.

After about ten minutes, Sara sighed into the phone. "So you're gonna go get him right? I mean I don't how Oliver could have missed this. This is something rather huge."

"Don't worry, I'm on it." Laurel said as she hung up with Sara and got a jacket and went down to her car and called Oliver. She didn't think he would pick up for her, but she needed to try. She needed to give herself a tiny bit of hope.

She called Diggle. "Hello?" He asked into the phone.

"Where is Oliver and Felicity's date supposed to be?" She asked as she turned down the street going to Verdant. She needed to grab her suit and his before she could go to the restaurant.

He chuckled. "Why, you gonna crash their date after all?" He asked.

"Sort of," She told him. "The Arrow is needed tonight."

Diggle rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow."

"And what am I supposed to say to the three members of the Glades we have left standing tomorrow? Because if he doesn't get this guy, that's what's gonna happen and we're all gonna be in more trouble." She raised her voice as she drove into parking lot. "Digg, I promise I wouldn't do this if it wasn't urgent. But the city needs the Arrow tonight."

She went in the back way that didn't disrupt everyone in the front and she smiled to Digg. "Thank you for telling me where they went, here's the full story," She said as she gave him the little pad of notes she took and went to get their costumes out of their glass boxes.

"You were right. This is bad." Diggle said.

Laurel looked at him. "You know it's almost as if you don't trust me. Nothing is going on. I don't want to sabotage his date. I want him to be happy."

"I know you do," Diggle said. "But I also know that you want to be happy. And it would be easier if he was in love with you."

"Yeah, well he's not, and we all have to face facts sooner or later." She told him as she put her canary jacket on top of her regular jacket. "So I'm gonna get them and Sara's already on the lookout by the way. She's en route too."

"You sure it's not something the two of you can take care of?" He asked.

Laurel looked to him once more and groaned. "As much as I would like to save Oliver's butt one time, I'm not trained enough right now. And you know, he's had experience with this guy. Sara says that he seems to have a grudge against Oliver. So regardless getting Felicity out of there is the smartest move."

"You care about her?" Diggle asked.

"Yes, more than I probably should." She said with a smile. "Now can I leave or are you gonna ask me more questions?"

Diggle shook his head and she was out.

At the restaurant, Oliver and Felicity were served their food and Felicity beamed as she saw it. Steak tartar with an arugula salad. "This is definitely the best meal I've had in my life."

"I thought you partied with the high rollers in Vegas?" He asked as he cut his and put some in his mouth.

She nodded to him and swallowed a bite. "I did, but usually we just drank and played cards. It was pretty fun. But there was definitely less food. There was actually a decent amount of dessert though." She mused as she took another bite and popped it into her mouth.

"Well, we'll just have to do dinners like this more often, which I've got to say has been one of the nicest dinners I've been to in awhile." He said. And then he looked up and saw someone at their table, "Laurel?" He asked.

"I need to talk to you," She said to him as she smiled awkwardly.

He smiled around because people knew Laurel here. "What are you doing here?" He asked. "I'm on a date."

"I know," She said as she winced. "And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. So here, just read this and you'll understand." She said as she slipped him her notes.

He looked down at the notes and up to her and raised an eyebrow. She nodded. And he wiped his face and sighed. "We should get Rubin. He'll be able to make arrangements for my card. You should have a lovely meal. But I think I'm gonna need a rain check on that movie," He said to Felicity.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can't exactly be Oliver Queen when the city needs me. I'll tell you more later. For now, enjoy dinner." He said as he kissed her cheek and left to talk to Rubin.

She threw her napkin on the table and sighed. "I can see why it's a little frazzling to be in Oliver Queen's life." She said to Laurel.

"If it means anything, I haven't seen him that happy in a while." She told Felicity.

Felicity smiled a little. "It does. I just don't know what's gonna happen."

Rubin came over, "Miss Lance, Mr. Queen has asked if you could stay and join Miss Smoak for dinner. He doesn't want her going home alone. He said everything to be paid for on him."

"Thank you Rubin, can I get an Italian soda?" She asked him.

He nodded. "but of course, and enjoy your dinner."


	3. Author's Note

Okay, I'm gonna address a couple of things that I have been getting in reviews and messages alike:

**Everyone loves Olicity and you are playing with us.**

This was actually said to me and a couple of things that I want to point out is that no, not everyone love Olicity. Just gonna put that out there. I'm not gonna squabble over who's the best, because there are good arguments on both sides, but the fact is not everyone loves Olicity.

I also never indicated that this was going to end well for Oliver and Felicity. I didn't tag their relationship because that would be playing with you. I also never indicated that it would exactly work out for Laurel and Oliver either. I have an idea of what's going to happen, but you know, it may not work out completely the way I want it too.

If you feel played, I'm sorry. I'm not gonna stop writing it though. And calling me names really isn't going to help your case.

**Laurel is badly written in the show and no one likes her and I don't even know why you're trying with her. You should just stop.**

You are free to think Laurel is badly written in the show. But I love Laurel. I love her in my bones. And I will protect her till my dying day. Also shitting on Laurel will make me do everything in my power to make sure that you are not seen in the reviews. Criticism is fine. Hate is not.

**You should have been u****pfront about the fact you're a Laurel/Oliver writer.**

Literally, what? The other 24 stories/collections weren't enough to give it away? Also trying my hand at something different is not a crime. First and foremost, this story at the heart of it, is about the ladies. I love both Felicity and Laurel. I heard the spoilers just as any of you and I wanted to explore the relationship both ladies have with Oliver. Also there's a reason for the idea that in chapter 2, both ladies were left at the table to eat. Yes, I'm a laullie writer and yes, this probably going to end up in their favor.

**Your description is vague and deceiving and may not attract the crowd you're looking for.**

The description is pretty vague and does have no mention of Laurel and I'm going to fix that. I did want this to appeal to the Oliciters and multishippers (I know you're out there) but I'm also a Lauliver writer through and through and I am probably going to make this Lauliver endgame. I'm sorry this didn't appeal to you because you were under the assumption it was something else. I'm sorry it didn't appeal to you because you don't think I did Olicity right. You guys are welcome to tell me that you don't think I did them justice.

**You tagged it wrong on purpose to attract more viewers. **

No, as shrewd as I am, this thought never once crossed my mind. I tagged it with Oliver and Felicity because they are two important characters in the plot. It's also why I tagged Laurel. It's why I haven't tagged Diggle, although he's in the story. And Ray. Because the essential characters boil down to Felicity, Laurel, and Oliver. I'm not going to untag Felicity. And feel fry to tell me how unreasonable that is. I will tag Oliver and Laurel's relationship if that will make you happy.

But basically, I'm glad you're here. If you've stuck around this long, have a cookie. I don't know when the next update will be. I just wanted to clear a few things up.

- Nina.


End file.
